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The President:
Hey, everybody.
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This is Barack Obama.
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I've got my chief
economist,
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Jason Furman, here.
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I want to talk a little
bit about what's been
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happening with the economy
over the last year, and
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I've got a little
handy chart.
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The census did a report
that they just issued
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today, and it gives you
a sense of what has been
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happening for American
families over
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the last year.
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And one of the biggest
highlights is that incomes
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went up 5.2 percent.
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This is actually the
largest jump, year over
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year, in incomes since
1968, and the good news is
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that it went up for
everybody, all income
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groups, except those
at the very, very top.
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All races, genders.
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What also happened was, is
that the pay gap between
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men and women closed, so
that, although women are
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still getting only 80
cents for every dollar a
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man makes, that's actually
a smaller gap than
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we've ever seen.
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We also saw a huge drop in
poverty year over year;
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the biggest since 1968.
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And so overall what this
does is, it paints a
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picture of an economy that
is improving, that is
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reducing poverty, and
is increasing incomes.
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And this is all a
consequence of some of the
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smart economic policies
that we've been putting in
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place over the last
several years.
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So, I want Jason to make
sure that I didn't say
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anything wrong.
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Jason Furman: (laughs)
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The President: Was that
fairly accurate, Jason?
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Jason Furman: Yes, it
was, Mr. President.
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I mean, you have to
understand, these data for
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economists - it's the most
comprehensive picture we
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get of how the American
people are doing.
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For us, this is
like the Super Bowl.
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I've watched the last 21
of these, and I haven't
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seen a better one.
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This is exactly what you
want to see: record income
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growth, income
growth for everyone.
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The largest decline in
poverty since 1968.
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You know, the declines
in poverty for
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African-Americans,
Hispanics, and children
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were even larger than
the declines for the
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population as a whole.
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The President: Right.
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And the good news is that
the income growth was most
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significant for the folks
in the bottom and the
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middle, and for women.
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And all that indicates
that we're trying to
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create the kind of
inclusive economy that
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will ensure more growth
over the future.
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Now, that doesn't mean
that our job is done;
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there's still a lot of
folks who are
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hurting out there.
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There's so much more we
could be doing to grow the
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economy even faster if we
were implementing some of
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our proposals for big
infrastructure to put
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folks in hardhats to work
and rebuild our economy,
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if we were investing
in clean energy more
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aggressively than we're
doing, and if we are
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raising productivity,
raising minimum wages -- a
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whole set of proposals
that we've put forward -
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we could be doing
even better.
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But what this does
indicate is that we're on
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the right path, and it's
important we stay on that
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right path going forward.
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Anything you want
to add, Jason?
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Jason Furman: No; I mean,
this is just income gains
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across the income
spectrum, the largest at
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the bottom.
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You know, we were in a
deep hole from decades of
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increased inequality.
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But we're digging out of
that hole, digging out of
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it rapidly, and you've
just laid out some of the
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policies that would
make it even faster.
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The President: All right.
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So, this is a big deal.
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And this is one of the
reasons why it's important
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for everybody to stay
focused on the policy
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debates that are going
to be taking place.
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I know it's election
season, but I think it's
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important for us to
remember that, ultimately,
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the test of policies
is results; what they
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actually deliver
for people.
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And over the last year,
and over the last seven
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and a half years, what
we've seen is the economy
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getting better for
ordinary folks.
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And that's been my goal
throughout the presidency.
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All right?
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Thanks, everybody.
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Bye-bye.
